This Beer Brand Is Trying to Open a Bar Straddling the U.S.-Mexico Border

Brewdog's 'Bar on the Edge' Takes Shot at Trump

By E.J. Schultz.Published on Aug 04, 2017

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Tecate Light took a shot at Donald Trump last year with an ad that mockingly proposed a beer wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Now a craft brewer is going one step further, saying it wants to build a real bar straddling the border.

The proposal by Scotland's BrewDog still requires approval from authorities and smells like a PR stunt, but one that could bring valuable attention to a brand looking to make a name for itself in the U.S.

"We will request official permission from the local authorities to put it there and adhere to any red tape stuff, but I guess it would make it more difficult to build a wall if there's a BrewDog bar in the way," BrewDog co-founder James Watt said in the announcement posted on the brewer's website. "We're planning on putting the bar there anyway until someone tells us to move it."

The brewer did not disclose the location of its so-called "Bar on the Edge" other than to say half of it will be in Texas and the other half in Chihuahua, Mexico. Plans call for the bar to be made from old shipping containers so that it would be officially defined as a temporary mobile building. Mexican beers would be served on the U.S. side and U.S. beers on the Mexican side.

"'The Bar on the Edge' will be set up in the furthest outskirts of the United States, reflecting our ambition to reach every corner of the country as we begin to brew our beers on U.S. soil," Watt stated. "Beer has always been a unifying factor between cultures �" and our business was born from collaboration and an inclusive approach �" so we thought it would be fun to place the bar a few feet further to actually cross the U.S.-Mexico border."

BrewDog will mark the announcement this weekend at its U.S. headquarters near Columbus, Ohio, where it runs a taproom. The "Tex-Mex Tap Takeover" will feature brews from Texas breweries as well as craft beer cocktails with Mexican Mezcal and Tequila. The Columbus Dispatch has already given the event some attention.

BrewDog has a history of doing clever politically-themed marketing. In the U.K. earlier this year it promised to hand out free beer to anyone voting in the General Election. The marketer encouraged people to "Vote Punk" and claim a free pint of Punk IPA in one of Brewdog's 29 U.K. bars if they show the staff a selfie outside a polling station.